The testimony of a stepfather and stepson who say they saw a North Little Rock murder suspect at the scene of a September 2015 slaying was cleared for trial on Monday, and prosecutors said they'll seek an arrest warrant for a third witness who did not show up for the hearing.
Defense attorney Bill James had challenged the legality of how police got the witnesses, both of whom say they've known Danny Ray Dednam for years, to identify the 18-year-old as the gunman who fatally wounded Keon Woodson at the Exxon station on Camp Robinson Road.
James has said there's evidence that Woodson, 22, had been trying to rob Dednam just before he was shot. One prosecution witness has told police that he had bought marijuana from Dednam before.
Dednam is charged with first-degree murder along with four counts of committing a terroristic act over accusations that the shots that fatally wounded Woodson also struck the sport utility vehicle he was riding in with four friends: Desmond Washington, Brian Godbolt, Demetrius Clayton and Markevious Trimble.
Dednam faces a potential life sentence at trial later this month.
After the shots were fired, the men in the SUV fled to the Summertree Apartments on Summertree Drive where they called for help. Police found Woodson dead in the back seat of the white Chevrolet Tahoe.
The men told police that Woodson and Dednam had spoken while sitting in their respective vehicles in the Exxon lot, then parted shortly before the shooting.
The men said they went back to the station because Woodson wanted to talk to Dednam again, police have said.
Deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan told the judge that he'll be seeking an arrest warrant for Godbolt because he did not show up for Monday's hearing despite subpoenas for him to testify from both prosecution and defense.
The defense had challenged the legality of tactics police used to get Jordan Byrd and his stepfather Franklin Stewart to identify Dednam as the man they saw on the convenience store parking lot during the shooting.
Byrd said he and Dednam have been close friends for years, while Stewart said he had also been personally acquainted with Dednam for some time.
Police said store surveillance video shows Byrd sitting in Dednam's Chevrolet Impala when the shooting occurs. The recording also shows Stewart in Byrd's Ford F150 pickup at that same time, according to police testimony.
Woodson's killing was out of camera reach and not recorded, but police say the video does show Dednam getting out of the car with a gun. Woodson was shot three times, with at least one wound in his back, police say.
Detectives were able to trace the pickup to Byrd, which in turn led them to Stewart.
After hearing testimony from detectives Dane Pedersen and Michael Gibbons, Circuit Judge Herb Wright found no wrongdoing by the officers when they showed photographs of possible suspects to the men in separate meetings a day apart.
Pedersen said he selected the photographs, culled from police archives and driver's license records, to make sure the six-photograph array each man saw contained five men who looked similar to Dednam.
To further ensure that the men could not have influenced each other, the men were shown different arrays with the Dednam photo in a different spot each time, Pedersen testified.
Duncan, the prosecutor, told the judge that, under court precedent, the officers' testimony about how they had questioned the men demonstrated so effectively that the detectives had acted appropriately that Duncan did not need to call Byrd and Stewart to testify at the hearing.
Aside from the murder charges, Dednam also faces felony drug and fleeing charges stemming from his arrest the day after the killing.
Authorities said he led sheriff's deputies, as well as federal marshals, on a high-speed car chase followed by a foot pursuit after he crashed his car.
Dednam was reportedly carrying $3,874 when he was apprehended and had dropped a bag of marijuana while deputies were chasing him.
Metro on 09/13/2016